Ore-separator



.I. HICKS.

ORE SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION man MAY 29. 1918.

: Patnted Ju1y20, 1920;

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Momma l. HICKS.

0RE SEPARATOR. APPLICATION HLED MAY 29, 9.18.

Patented July 20, 1920. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

wxmesses Mow 04 UNITED STATES JOHN HICKS, on CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA.

E-1hr oRE-sErARaToR. 1

TOIQZZ whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, JoHN Hrons, asubject of the King of Great Britain,residing at Calgary, in the Province of Alberta andDominion of Canada,have invented new and useful Improvements in Ore-Separators, of

which the following is a specification.

.out of the cup.

"This invention is'an improved-ore separating apparatus especiallyadaptedfor use in recovering-flour gold and fine :gold particles fromgold bearing sands and deposits such as black sands and gravel found inthe beds of streams, the object of the invention being to provide animproved apparatus of this kind which is simple in construction andwhich embodies means to employ the compressed air, steam or other fluidmedium under compression to set up whirling motion in the sands as theypass through a conduit and-to also effect a separation of the sands anda recommingling or mixing thereof as they pass through said conduit, sothat all the sand particles are subjected-to attrition and are moistenedor wet to cause the flour gold to be effectually separated from thesands; the invention also embodying a mercury cup or vessel into whichthe separated ore particles, gold, sand and the like, are driven whilestill whirling so that said ore particles also set up whirling motion inthe mercury with the result that the flour gold particles are caused tosettle and become collected in the mercury in the cup while the sandsand other worthless particles, which are lighter, are whirled off theface of the mercury and out of the mercury cup and are discharged, andwithout forcing themercury With the above and other objects in view, theinvention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement ofdevices hereinafter #described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a vertical sectional'view' ofan ore separating apparatus constructed and arranged inv accordance withmy invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same, on a larger scale, onthe plane indi cated by the-line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar view on the plane indicated by the line 3-3- of Fig.1.

Fig. iis a detail sectional 'v1ew,-'on alarger scale, of the :mixingnectlons.

Fig. 5 is-a similar View of the mercury cup; Fig. 6 1s:a-vert1calsectional VIGW'SlIQWiIIg a -mod-1ficat1on 1n the construction of themixing element and its connections.

A vertical: pipe 1 is provided at'its up-per' end witha feed hopper 2and is arranged to discharge at 1ts lower end into a mercury cup elementand its 5 con Specification of Letters Patent. a I Patented 111 720, IApplication 'filed m 29, 1918. 'serial-ivouasmoo. I

3 which mercury cup is held by across bar 1 4 or other suitablesupportwin aubox 5, thebox having aido'or 6 in one side to afford accessto-the mercury cup and being provided at the bottom,*below the mercurycu=p, 'witha tailings discharge 7. The mercury cup is open in the upperside andhas a-pocket 8' at the bottom-and-a-lso has avalvei). :The wall10 ofth'e. mercury cup .is :flared outwardlyandidownwardlyas at 11, toform an wardly andupwardly and is doubled inannular' expansion chamber12 which extends around the cup. A partition wall 13 is arranged .in thecupandspaced from the wall thereof, the upper portion of the partitionwall being flared outwardly and .upwardly and extending into theexpansion chamber 12. Said partition wall is provided with perforations14.

A steam pipe15. leads from a suitable boiler into the lower portion ofthe pipe 1 and is provided with a downwardly directed nozzle, elbowor-rose 1 6 which discharges down through the pipe 1 and into themercury cup. The lower sectionl? of the pipe 1 is secured in an openingin the bottom 18 ofa drum 'l9 and the uppersection-QO of said pipe issecured inan opening inthe top a of the drum.- The drum is: secured to.the bottom by bolts 21. The upper pipesection 20 has an air inletopening 22 in one side.

Cross bars 23' are arranged in thelower portionof the pipe section 20and at a'point Slightly above the drunr; p 7

A mixing element 24 vertical hollow tubular member which is arand theaxis of said mixing :element being coincidentx withth-at of the pipe. 1'The inner wall '25 of the mixing element 24 is provided with:tangentially arranged perforations 26 is here shown as; a

rangedin the drum 19 and the in'nerjdiamet'er I of which correspondswith that of the pipe 1 and also with'upwardlyinclinedperforations sandsis effected.

27 and inwardly inclined perforations 27*. A pipe 28 which leads from asource of water or a source of compressed air is connected to the mixingelement 24 and is provided with a cut-off valve 29. A branch pipe 30leads upwardly from the pipe 28, is provided with a cut-off valve 31 andterminates at its upper end in an upwardly directed, nozzle 32 whichdischarges upwardly into hopper and-from the hopper to the upper end ofthe pipe 1. The jet of water, compressed air jor other fluid from thenozzle 32 prevents thesands from choking in the throat ofethe hopper andthe sands drop through the pipe 1. As the sands drop through said pipethey strike and their mass is broken by the cross bars 23 and as thesands pass through the mixing element.24 they are caught by thetangential jets of water or compressed air which are discharged throughthe tangential perforations 26 and are whirled thereby around and aroundinrthe separator and are also caught by-the upwardly inclined andinwardly directed jets of. water or compressed air from the perforations27 so that the passage of the sands downwardly through the mixingelement is somewhat retarded, so that between said upwardly directedjets and'the said tangentially directed jets the sands are thoroughlyseparated into particles and are dashed against the sides of theseparator and each particle of the sands and. offlour gold is moreoverthoroughly wetted by the streams or ets of water, when water isemployed. The whirling of the sands continues: as the sands pass downthrough the lower section 17 of the pipe and while'passing therethroughthe sands alternately'strike the wall of the pipe and rebound toward thecenter thereof so that a complete separation and mixture of the As. thewhirlingv sands near the lower discharge end of the pipe 1 they arecaught by the downwardly directed jets of steam fromthe nozzle 16 of thesteam pipe15 and are forcibly and whileany of themereury out of the cup.

'Owing to the provision of the annular expansion chamber in the wall ofthe mercury cup any extra pressure from the separator is taken up by themercury, the'mercury exchambers.

out the gold dust without disturbing the mercury in the cup.

The pipe 28 is connected to a manifold 28*, and the drum 19' about theupright pipe 1 is divided by annular partitions60 into annular chambers61, each of which is in communication with one series of the pluralityof series of apertures in the upright pipe 1. Communication between themanifold 28 and each of the chambersfil'is controlled by a valve 62. By'virtueof this provision, the fluid under pressure-maybe let into thepipe 1 through any one or more series of, apertures according to, thecharacter of the agitation to which the operator. desires to subject-thesands.- It will also be apparent by comparison of Figs. 1 and 6, thatthe modification shown in the latter figure and hereinafter described,includes all of the features just defined. In Fig. 6 I show amodification in the construction of my separator in which the mixingelement 24 is divided by horizontally arranged annular partitions 36into. annular. chambers-37, 38. The inner walls of the annular chambersare provided some with tangentially arranged apertures 39 and otherswith inclined apertures 40 and the upper chambers 37 are connectedtogether by a duct 41 which is formed on one side of the mixer, thelower chambers 38 being connected together by a..duct 42. A water.supply pipe 43 is connected to the duct 41 and is provided with acut-off valve 44. A steam or compressed air pipe 45 is connectedto theduct 42 and has a cut-off valve 46. Controlling valves 47 are pro-.vided for the upper chambers andcontrolling valves 48 are provided forthe lower In this construction the sands as'the fallthrough the duct orpipe and through the mixing element are subjected to the action oftangentially arranged water jets and upwardly inclined water jetsandarealso subjected as they pass through the lower portion of the mixerto correspondingly directed steam or compressedair jets so that athorough mixing, separating, and whirling of the sands is effected.

WVhile I have herein shown and describedlzo preferred embodiments of myinvention, I would have it understood thatchanges may be made in theform, proportion and construction of the several parts, without de-.

parting from the spirit of my invention-and within the scope ofthe'appended claim- Having thus described my-invention, I claim: Y

In an ore separating apparatus, a. mer-- cury cup adapted to receivesands from a conduit and having a detachable pocket at cup and alsoincluding an apertured partiits lower end and a'valve above said pockettion wall spaced from the outer wall and and also having a flared upperportion, said the inner downwardly-extending portion of 10- upperportion including an outer wall said outer wall.

doubled inwardly and downwardly and In testimony whereof I affix mysignaforming an annular expansion chamber in ture.

the uppermost and outermost portion of the 7 JOHN HICKS.

